(Marigold used acorn caps and twigs and all sorts of other interesting bits and pieces to measure plus she cooked her faerie cakes in a solar-powered oven – but you probably don’t have one of those and will have to use the more conventional sort.)

If the margarine is not already soft – put it in the micro for 10 seconds on high. Then add the sugar and mix well. Crack in the eggs and vanilla essence and stir some more.

Add one cup of flour – stir it into the mixture. Then add the milk and mix some more. Add the last cup of flour and make sure that it is all mixed together properly. (The final mixture should be like thick gooey porridge.) You are supposed to sift the flour, but Marigold forgot – if you sift the flour it makes the cakes a little lighter.

Spray and cook (or grease) a muffin pan or if you have paper cases, pop those into the holes.

Spoon the cake mixture into the cases or muffin pan holes. It should make 12 large faerie cakes.

Bake for 12 – 15 minutes in the middle of the oven. (Don’t open the oven door until the baking time is nearly finished, otherwise you cakes will sink.)

You know they are cooked when they are all brown, cracked and crinkly. Just kidding… stick a toothpick into a cake and if it comes out clean – they are cooked.

P.S. I found this recipe in a Brownie book when I was about 10 or 11 years old and have been using it ever since – for more than 40 years – and it never flops. You can substitute some of the flour for coco powder and make choccy cakes – or you can pour all the mixture into round cake tins (or even a loaf tin) and make big cakes. It’s very versatile.